Chief Minister (CM) of Province 1 Sher Dhan Rai has suspended 15 CPN provincial assembly members from the faction of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal for signing on the no-confidence motion against the CM without informing the party and party leaders.
Chief whip of CPN in the province Buddhi Kumar Rajbhandari said CM Rai has suspended 15 out of the 19 signatories, from whom he had sought explanation, for three months.
CM Rai issuing a statement copied to the provincial assembly secretariat has said the 15 have been suspended as per the parliamentary party statute.
The suspended lawmakers include Bhim Prasad Acharya, who had lost the parliamentary party leader election to Rai, Jeevan Ghimire, Indra Bahadur Angbo, Bijay Kumar Vishwas, Savitra Kumari Regmi, Upendra Ghimire, Leela Ballabh Adhikari, Rajendra Kumar Rai, Yashodha Adhikari, Lachhuman Tiwari, Mohan Kumar Khadka, Kool Prasad Samba, Dhirendra Sharma, Tanka Angbuhang and Kusum Kumari Shrestha.
Rajbhandari said provincial assembly members Tulsi Prasad Neupane, Usha Kala Rai, Jhalak Bahadur Magar and Ram Kumar Rai, who had also signed on the no-confidence motion, have not been suspended as they provided verbal response to the explanation sought by CM Rai.
CM Rai had dismissed Finance Minister Indra Bahadur Angbo on Saturday on charge of signing to bring no-confidence motion against him.
Social Development Minister Jeevan Ghimire, Minister of State for Social Development Jas Maya Gajmer and Minister of State for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Bijay Vishwas from the Dahal-Nepal faction had resigned the next day. A total of 37 provincial lawmakers registered the no-confidence motion against CM Rai and proposed Bhim Acharya as the next CM the same day.
CM Rai had later sought explanation from 19 of 37 signatories.
Ruling CPN has 67 members in the 93-strong provincial assembly but CM Rai is in minority in the parliamentary party.
